Glasvegas

Saturday, January 10

The first time I heard Glasvegas  the Scottish foursome whose name, if you hadnt already surmised, is a cross between Glasgow and Las Vegas  they reminded me of another widely lauded (yet all-but-forgotten) U.K. band, the Doves. Like that group, Glasvegas crafts rock of the stately, brooding, epic, cinematic variety, with a taste for gray-sky melodies and an ear for Phil Spector-style wall of sound production. Singer James Allan comes from the Bono school of over-emotive crooning, but its not really a deal breaker. The band actually gets compared more to the Jesus and Mary Chain than U2  probably because early champion Alan McGee (the Creation Records founder and one-time Jesus and Mary Chain manager) compared them to J&MC and everyone else ran with it  but I dont really hear it. Theyre far more refined. Glasvegass self-titled debut album, which came out just a few months ago, is all the rage in England. And deservedly so. Who knows about the bands staying power, though  Id catch them now, before they fly away never to be heard from again. Like the Doves.